business and financial headlines. regulators in the european union and now they're investigating his corporate tax structure the european commission is looking into whether the sweden based company was given unfair tax advantages by the netherlands according to member states cannot give tax benefits to multinationals that aren't allowed to other firms during a press conference a spokeswoman for the commission explained the probe is focused on interests here which is one of the groups that operates the entire business we state in our preliminary concerns that we have concerns that to. tax rulings from two thousand and six and two thousand and eleven may have about interact to pay less tax and given them an unfair advantage compared to other companies subject to the same national taxation rules in the netherlands which would confirm to being breach of the as you state rules ikea quickly responded to the announcement denying any

wrongdoing in a statement the company wrote the way we have been taxed by national authorities has in our view been in accordance with the e.u. rules it is good at the investigation can bring clarity and confirm that. i can't isn't the only company in the under investigation though french finance minister bruno lemaire has filed a complaint against amazon for allegedly abusing its suppliers with one sided contract posits depending on the outcome of the investigation the company could face a ten million euro penalty although an amazon distribution center but too long ago paris complained that amazon prime now could quote destabilize the economy by hurting local restaurants and grocery stores meanwhile it remains as one of the most popular e-commerce sites in the country that sees nearly three point five million daily users.

the long term outlook for the uranium industry remains positive despite current market uncertainty we're joined now by our correspondent david miller to hear more on how nuclear energy continues to play a significant role in the global energy mix if we are a new reactor construction is happening now on a global scale with currently some fifty six new reactors under construction in addition many existing plants are adding capacity to meet those growing demands as nuclear energy does continue to play a significant role in the global energy mix the long term outlook for your brain remains positive despite current market uncertainty the challenges for the industry creates a pathway with the timing of the transition from an oversupply market to promises of nuclear growth and positive market conditions in the long term and this industry is typically driven by energy and electricity consumption which continues to increase and the world's population is also growing from seven billion to nine

billion over the next two decades population growth is feeding the expected increase in your brain in production currently there are two billion people who have no. limited access to electricity and proponents of nuclear energy say that this is an important option in the world's energy mix as those energy demands continue to grow and the nuclear options will continue to increase also china and attempts to slash coal consumption especially in a small prone areas will also seek to deploy nuclear power to provide reliable winter heating of course opponents do cite many environmental and health concerns when it does come to nuclear power yet china does continue to pump billions into advanced nuclear technology and this will not only boost china's domestic capacity and also strengthen their global presence and their use of conventional nuclear plants is providing hating to commonplaces throughout russia and eastern europe and

meanwhile china will seek to be the first country to build reactors dedicated specifically to that task of war mean it's cities china also has plans to develop a portfolio of reactors capable of powering remote allan's ships cars and even airplanes and proponents of nuclear energy claim that the power remains safe clean reliable affordable and most importantly a baseload energy source and regions where baseload energy is needed to provide twenty four hour power are those areas that see the most growth in new nuclear construction the potential use of a twenty four hour baseload include industries and health care education transportation and communication systems and nuclear reactors can run on a single load of fuel for about twelve eighteen months helping children toadies from possible fuel call swings and supply interruption and with the demand coming in the form of new reactors and the expansion of reactors already in place a market shift is expected and their story lack of investment and decreases in long

term contracting have also begun to take a toll on the primary supply side and despite that impact of the excess supply on today's market there is opportunity in the long term for strong producers that have the right mix of. assets and the flexibility to meet future needs and long term success were main dependent markets shifted to the supply of or the lack of contracting activity many experts to believe the uncertainty in the market will shift and they'll need a recovery period to protect contract portfolios reporting for us david miller r t america. going out things began trading last week at the chicago board options exchange and bitcoin futures trading began on monday at the c.m.a. group what does all of this new trading of derivatives mean for bitcoin let's ask our friend of the show and former u.s. trading commissioner part chilton smart what does all of this new derivatives

trading mean for coining. i think it's a really positive sign i mean we've already seen that the price between last week the options as you say at cboe and this week just today c.m.e. group which you know. the prices are leveling out in between those futures those derivative prices and the actual bitcoin price and that's a good thing to get rid of some of this volatility right don't get me wrong i mean the prices are still going up significantly but at least there's not the incredible machinations we saw like last week i know beyond because we talked about it the cboe hit some of those circuit breakers where they had to pause trading that didn't happen with c.m.e. group and there's going to be a lot more liquidity i think in this contract c.m.e. group so i think really positive for bitcoin well what about volatility in bitcoin

trading in the underlying coin trading and on the derivatives. right so that the under the underlying you know bring that volatility down is key and so far we've seen that that happen it's too early to make any super long term prognostications but my view is that the volatility will be less and that the more liquid as more liquidity comes in that's going to be a really great thing and we're starting to see that because as you'll recall you know there wasn't a lot of there weren't a lot of people going short on the bitcoin derivatives products last week at cboe but now seeing is allowing folks to go short to bet on a bit coin in january or february in the what they call the out months and that'll take that'll take some volatility out by letting people bet on both sides that everybody can only bet long guess where the prices are headed through the roof and

that's what we've seen in the over the counter trading to date but i think that's going to be tempered by this derivatives trading cboe is helpful but that was helpful this amount c.m.e. group bianca's the largest futures exchange most liquid futures exchange all around the world so we've gone from cboe helping out the coin trading so i think c.m.e. really stepping up again and it's a game in a gargantuan style well what do you think this means for oversight and enforcement and that queen trading now that it's become so popular do you think we could see new regulations or major changes going forward. there may be some regulations down down the road i probably look towards you know that the f.c.c. is doing some regulations with regard to my old agency the commodity futures trading commission they're trying to define what an actual physical delivery is so if you have a futures contract and you say i'm one you know january futures on on bitcoin and

you actually go to delivery you actually take it that means taking possession of it but how do you take possession of something that you know has existed in cyberspace right so that definition will be a new regulation it's out right now they just issued it the other day for a ninety day comment but other than that i don't see new regulations but i do think that it will help overall with regard to oversight and enforcement of not just the futures bianca but of the dark markets the over the counter markets where the actual bitcoins are being traded and people really haven't covered this thing it's sort of a nuance but it's really important and that is when these see f.t.c. looks at the futures if they think that something has taken place and toward in the underlying in the regular bitcoin trading it i won't list any exchanges but in one of the many numerous bitcoin exchanges if the see if t.c.

thinks something is going on there they actually have an arm into it and they can look at the trading there so all of this transparency and oversight that's going on in the futures industry can actually translate to some extent into the other underlying bitcoin trading and that's a good thing well it sounds like this might have global repercussions i mean how do you think this could impact other international financial regulators another trading around the world. well i do think you know we you and i have talked about this personally and on the show that you know we've seen south korea china and russia actually take a sort of you know the don't stop everything right now stop the stop initial coin offerings stop a bit coin and other digital currency trading and i think this is a really positive sign for bitcoin in general that the u.s. is doing this and i i think it's true that other global regulators in asia and in

in europe in particular i think are going to look and see what the see f.t.c. is done what i think the f.c.c. will do to regulate more in the coming year two thousand and eighteen so i do think it's a positive thing i know there are some naysayers out there in the digital enthuses too they don't want them many government but by and large investors i think will be better protected because markets will have more transparency more oversight and they'll be counterparty protection to so somebody makes bad on their bet with you it's the clearinghouse will pay for it that doesn't happen in the underlying bitcoin that's another really great thing about this futures trading bianca former u.s. trading commissioner part thanks as always thanks. time now for a quick break but stick around because when we were turning while the g.o.p. actually passed tax reform by christmas leaders only have a few days left to do that and avoid a government shutdown we'll hear from steve malzberg on if both can be done and

with strong consumer confidence and a record market gains hopes are high for retail sales of the holiday season but what can we expect moving forward melissa our model of the stocks who will join us to talk more about that and the dow has risen five thousand points in the in a year for the first time ever for the numbers of the closing bell. players. are live. by too many clubs over the years so i know the gunman so i got. the ball isn't only about what happens on the pitch for the final school it's about the passion from

the families it's the age of the super money kill you narrowness and spending to do the twenty million and one player. it's an experience like nothing else going to be true so i want to share what i think what i know about the beautiful game but great to will transfer. the thinks it's going to. how does it feel to be a sheriff the greatest job in the world it's as close to being a king as any job there is what business model helps to run the prison we do or don't like and nobody you know visitation i don't no one comes anymore we don't have to serve them anymore it's cost effective that's what they want to do that you

won't they don't give a damn if you do the chores or not they're going to be paying enough to put it back in very good the louisiana incarceration rate is twice as high as the u.s.n. bridge what she could is behind such success. between debt problems and hurricane maria puerto rico has been dealing with a laugh recently and it looks like the situation there could get worse a new report from the new york times points to a looming foreclosure crisis that could be worse than what we saw in two thousand and eight the paper noted how one third of the four hundred twenty five thousand homeowners in puerto rico are behind on their mortgage payments and around ninety thousand became delinquent as a result of the hurricane currently the island's foreclosure rate that's at thirty five percent more than double the national rate from january of two thousand and ten considering puerto rico is still reeling from hurricane maria it's unclear if

when and how this could be solved especially since the government imposed a moratorium on foreclosures is scheduled to expire in just a few months. the holidays are just around the corner so most americans are swiping their cards left and right with consumer confidence up and record highs in the stock market what can we expect to see this year to hear her take we're joined now by melissa or mo the founder of the stocks whoosh melissa a study for master card shows that u.s. retail spending was up three point six percent between november first and december ninth from the same period in two thousand and sixteen and since november e-commerce sales were up sixteen point three percent so is the upcoming holiday season the main reason for this earth or something else that play well thanks for having me well you know what i think that today is a great example of why consumers are having so much confidence look at the market we just closed our record highs again today i mean the spa has made

a twenty five percent move in one year so to get numbers like that i mean you're not surprised in fact i want to be surprised if by the end of the year the numbers not only meet expectations but exceed the expectations that companies thought that they would have for the for the sales for the holiday season well despite the retail boom it's one of the only industries that's not adding jobs so should we expect to see strong retail sales after the holidays if we keep seeing store closures. well here's the thing these some of these stores have got to compete better the brick and mortar stores with the online on the line stores and they're trying to do that but the problem is with the holidays a lot of these stores have big sales because they do the price slashing a lot of the have forty five percent discounts for the black friday in the holiday season it's hard to compete then because during the year if these brick and mortar

stores have these huge sales people waiting for them they shift to go online so i think the challenge for brick and mortar stores for retail anyone that's still out there that's competing ok the wal marts the targets the coles the macy's anyone that's out there that's fighting for market share against the amazons of the world they've got to find a better way and it's not always getting the discounts like for example coke coles the stock was in a down trend right before the holiday season it was trading around thirty eight around november ninth before the thanksgiving rush it's today had a huge rally again today back up in that trend over fifty four you can you know the stock was dragging all year they've got to find a better way to get people in to buy and you know that's the challenge right now because you look at amazon and you bring up a good point because even though the internet has definitely disrupted the retail industry online sales only account for about ten percent of total retail sales so

if that is the case we're considering it is why do you think the industry is doing so poorly when it's not the holiday season is it just because during black friday they. are putting everything seventy five percent off. well the thing is it could be different in twenty eight that's what i'm saying people now are lighting up on their pocketbooks third they're not they're feeling like they can spend money that's why consumer confidence is high that's why people are feeling like oh my gosh i don't have to worry about so much in the future i can go out and buy this gift and there's something big it's not just a holiday sales that we were seeing a trend here for the for the shopping it's something called self gifting ok so self gifting is oh i'm so and so i'm going to buy that for myself plus the presents for my family and friends so self guesting has been a big trend this holiday season i think overall you're seeing people feeling like they can loosen up on their pocketbooks because the economy is getting better and that overall is going to project into twenty eighteen if the market continues to

rally and once again the companies that these corporations are going to get this huge tax break if this really passes which everyone feels very optimistic that it's going to happen that is going to help give all these companies a boost target wal-mart macy's kohl's all these companies i'm talking about amazon till they're going to get a huge tax break well as you just said there has been a major focus recently on consumer confidence which is sitting nicely at a seventeen year high but wages still remain pretty stagnant and we just saw that in the most recent jobs report so how is it that americans are feeling optimistic if we're not feeling improvements in our paychecks. well i think people are feeling optimistic because if you have a four zero one k. plan and you're reading your statements for the last year it's increasing without you having to do anything so that right there makes people feel better about their future more secure for their retirement also if they do these tax cuts for income tax going into twenty people are going to see that immediate savings they're going

to see that immediate savings and that makes people feel more optimistic about the future as far as the wage growth i mean people been talking about this i don't know why it hasn't caught up with everything else maybe it's just one of those things that's going to take a while to get caught up maybe you're going to see an after effect of these companies saving money on the taxes with the corporate tax rate being cut and then they're going to start to pay more for more qualified labor i mean maybe that's going to reflect on top of that after the fact i mean i don't know why we haven't seen that because unemployment is low but i definitely think that companies might want to pay more for better labor or pay more when interest and that might have an effect maybe twelve twenty four months down the road melissa founder of the stocks thanks so much for your time today will remain subdued over the next five days and a surge in renewable energy bangladesh in fact india's consumption could grow by three point three percent per year until two thousand and twenty two at

a recent gathering in paris united nations secretary general antonio good terrorist urged leaders to move toward renewables empathizing that they're not a cheaper than coal powered energy so this global financial system is a war which forms themselves through this of the. or even negative interest rates but the opportunities for productive and growth for the low carbon glowing with the investment in the new levels are known cheaper than board energy in those rooms of developing developing countries producing the basis for sustainable energy for all . it's also a fact that. every subsidized meaning we are investing. on monday leaders returned to capitol hill with tax reform in mind all while coming to agreement on a budget that they're not successful in the latter we could see another government shutdown to talk more about this we're joined now by conservative commentator steve

malzberg see if the g.o.p. has emphasized over and over again that this tax bill would help the middle class but a new monmouth university poll shows that almost half of americans disapprove of the bill so why aren't they excited about it. they're not excited about it because the media has been doing a hatchet job on it from day one because anything that would be good for trump and the republicans is bad for the media and they're going to tell you it's terrible when in fact you know there are so many things in there for the average american most americans take the standard deduction and their standard deduction is going to double for individual filers and it's going to double for for families who file together husband and wife married couples did the child tax credit has gone up there's a whole litany of items that will benefit the average middle class worker and not the least of which is the corporate tax advantages that are going to i hate to use the term trickle down when the economy grows and they estimate that that will come

to about two thousand dollars for the average american family so there's a lots of stuff in here for the average american they just don't know it so i wish they would ask the same people that don't like it hey what's in it and they'll say . because they don't know when as you just alluded to that they'll one lower corporate taxes but the joint committee on taxation said that would increase deficits by one point four six billion dollars over a decade so if that does happen won't that risk counteracting the resulting investment that the g.o.p. claims will see from the legislation but i do know i take any any estimate by the joint committee on taxation or the c b o i take it with a grain of salt what the republicans are doing here makes a lot of sense and you know the joint commission on taxation originally said that the lower wage earners are going to pay more and why because they're going to lose

the subsidies that they get for taking obamacare while they were forced to take obamacare they get to opt out of it on purpose and they won't get those subsidies naturally and they take that into account somehow and say all they're not going to get those subsidies so it's a tad. increase i don't care for what what these committees and commissions come out with well the government needs to agree on the spending bill by friday to avoid a shutdown given the amount of partisanship on the hill right now do you expect that we'll see a short or long term spending bill put in place and which with the better scenario to be in well the better would be the long term but the democrats want to attach the dreamers and dhaka to any long term bill and they also want less defense spending than the republicans do so i would like to see the democrats veto all this filibuster it shut the government down over dhaka let's run on that no way teen and see where it gets them steve malzberg conservative commentator thanks so much for

your time today my pleasure. finally the existence of a secret defense department program to study u.f.o.'s has been revealed by the new york times military intelligence official louis elizondo worked on the advanced aerospace threats identification program in the pentagon until he resigned in october the program was created in two thousand and seven while funding officially ended in two thousand and twelve elizondo says the program continues and that another official who he declined to name has taken over his duties elizondo complained of excessive secrecy in his resignation letter asking why are we spending more time and effort on this issue from two thousand and seven to two thousand and twelve official funding totaled twenty two million dollars as for finals on don't hold and as contentious as you oppose however there are still those observation that's all for now but be sure to catch boom bust on you tube at youtube dot com.

i tell you it's mind it's consumed with the memories capacity. of the older. now coming in now and we're going to be on in the snare. on the some listener count somehow moments from some someone and they guy. and he's. counting on i love you and then i'll be one of the from the one that hit him.

i'm going to. headlines on oxy international the u.n. security council overwhelmingly boxer resolution calling for the reverse old decision to recognize jerusalem as the is ready capital however the move is vetoed by the united states. and the photon a bush story hope the deadly christmas market attack in the country's justice minister admits the author already is would not prepared for the consequences of the atrocity and when i called the hotline that was the only information that she's not on the list so i didn't know anything about she because the official statement was that she was missing. but of course it was snowing to the police that she was

dead. the u.k. promise is fifty million pounds in aid to yemen while warning the saudi arabia that it's.